Foo - Moving to Phoenix area, looking for school info.

I'm transferring to Phoenix and hope to have the move completed by the start of the school year. i have 3 kids, 10 and under, so our first priority is to find a good school district and then find a decent rental house in the district. My office will be right where the 17 crosses the Arizona Canal, near the MetroCenter Mall. We are looking to live in the Glendale/Peoria area so that I won't have an obscene commute. Any locals care to shed some light on the subject? Great areas and places to completely avoid?

If you haven't already - might want to post in the forum section devoted to South Western USA . All of my friends live in or around Scottsdale

The times I've moved, it's a PITA, but go a few months early and attend a school board meeting and a school event (like a carnival or open house night) in each of the residential areas of interest. You'll find the comments fast and furious when you say you're moving to the area and just attending to try and obtain a feel for which district will suit your family's needs best. One caution, as you begin to narrow it down to a single district, attend events in more than one school and the schools of the future (up through high school) and if its a big district have a look at how often they redistrict so that you pick a spot that's stable and that has the environment you desire -- even within a district, there can be wide variation in attitudes, stress, and applied policy. It sounds like a lot of work and it is, but then, you can get a lot done if you move 3 months ahead of the family and devote the first 6 weeks to choosing and the remaining time to buying and moving. No fun to be separated from the family, but if school choice is the primary filter, then relying on internet discussions could be FOOlish, better to do some research yourself.